Mom accused of abandoning kids on side of road says she ‘was just so tired’

WAKE COUNTY, N.C. – A North Carolina mother has been charged after allegedly leaving her two young children on a Cary road and speeding away, according to Cary police.

Jennifer Westfall, 38, is accused of dropping her 9-year-old and 19-month old off on the side of Reedy Creek Road in Wake County on October 2. The children are fine and in foster care.

Police said a woman taking her child to Reedy Creek Elementary told them she witnessed the incident, then picked the two children up and took them to school.

School administrators alerted the school resource officer who in turn called Child Protective Services.

The mother, however, claimed that she drove to the school’s campus where she dropped them off and watched a woman take them by the hand, which she thought was a legal way to abandon the children, according to investigators.

In North Carolina, only infants a few days old can be left with another adult in order to be considered legal.

“I know what I did was wrong but I just, I was so tired of doing this by myself. I have the strength to do what I need to do but I don’t have the skills to make the income that I need to take care of my family, and nobody will hire me. I’ve been around everywhere. And with these charges I just don’t see how I’m ever getting my kids back,” said Westfall.

CPS and Cary police investigated and decided to charge the mother with two counts of misdemeanor child abuse.

Westfall was arrested at her Fuquay-Varina home Monday. She was released from jail last night and is due in court next month.